In late August of 2019, I picked up my mother at Dulles International Airport to take a 16 hour drive from Dulles International Airport, VA to AMU--Ave Maria University--in Ave Maria, FL over the course of two days. After arriving, we toured Ave Maria University's campus and went through orientation. I attempted to meet with a couple professors in my major without much luck (they were giving seminars) so I passed the time prepping my room for the semester. I said goodbye to my mother, a little tough since in the span of 8 months I had only seen my family for a week.
Shortly after classes started, I finally got to meet a professor: my advisor. I sat down in his office, and the first thing I learned from him was that he specializes in Botany. Oh great, I thought. Not only am I a student in a small school's new Marine Biology program, but my advisor is also a botanist by trade. I'm sunk before even getting a chance to swim! But then he began talking about his scuba license, asked me if I have one, and told me he'd been part of the Marine Biology Chair's most recent summer journey to the Florida Keys to obtain samples of an organism the Chair focuses on. Internally, I sighed with relief. Marine Biology was possible again. But my advisor's surprises didn't stop there; he then told me that he was going to lead a student trip to Marco Island, on the Gulf and an hour south of AMU, for a reef cleanup. I nearly jumped out of my chair! A couple years prior to AMU, before a vocation to family and lay work crossed my mind, I watched a Netflix title called "Chasing Coral" that planted a seed, one which helped me decide a year later to pursue biological work in ocean conservation. Working with a coral reef was a dream opportunity. Not expecting a chance to go on my first opportunity, I asked him to put me on his email list for the trip and waited. A month later, I went!
Want to read more of this story? Go to the "Marco Island: a Volunteer Reef Cleanup" blog post to see plenty of photos and hear about my experience diving its reef!
Commentaires